In vivo Biocompatibility Evaluation of Cibacron Blue-Agarose
Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 47, 1999:537-542
Jay M. Kao1, Rebecca Rose1, Mohammed Yousef1, Stephen K. Hunter2 and V.G.J. Rodgers1
1The Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
2The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242
Abstract
This study investigated the biocompatibility of Cibacron blue-agarose as a biomaterial for microencapsulation. Cibacron blue-agarose is known to have an affinity for albumin under certain pH conditions and in the proper steric environment. Thus it was postulated that the material's high affinity for host albumin reduce a secondary immune response and reduce the fibrotic overgrowth that often accompanies transplanted foreign materials. In vivo tests were performed using the Lewis rat model. Both Cibacron blue-agarose and plain agarose disks were prepared, with some disks from each group being pre-exposed to sera from Lewis rats. After 115 days the disks were excised. Fibrotic overgrowth was analyzed using light microscopy, and a blind study was used to measure the average growth thickness on each disk. The results demonstrated that all disks developed some fibrotic encapsulation and that the presence of Cibacron blue was not significant in reducing fibrotic overgrowth (p = 0.62). Agarose disks pre-exposed to sera had significantly less average overgrowth than any other group (p = 0.06).
Keywords: Cibacron blue; agarose; albumin; biomaterial; biocompatibility; transplantation